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Solving the GTA’s affordable housing shortage

The inadequate supply of affordable housing is a massive and growing problem in the GTA, and one that governments at all levels are actively working to address.

The home-building and land-development industry wants to be part of the solution, so we recently brought together some of the smartest minds on the subject to discuss the challenge of our lack of affordable housing stock and identify creative ways to build more.

BILD members provided the industry’s perspective and we invited not-for-profit developers, government colleagues and other stakeholders to the table as well.

With representatives from each sector, small groups shared ideas for improving policy, creating financial incentives and other factors that are needed to increase the supply of affordable housing.

To inspire the discussions, we brought in Tom Bledsoe, president and CEO of the Housing Partnership Network, to give a keynote address about how affordable housing has been built in the U.S and the U.K. A renowned expert on delivering partnership-based affordable housing, Tom shared examples of how other cities are trying to address housing challenges similar to those in the GTA.

In cities like San Francisco, New York, Seattle and London, affordable housing is being built through private-, public- and non-profit-sector partnerships.

For example, in San Francisco, the city has been able to increase the number of cost-effective housing units through a partnership model and through incentives such as capital subsidies and bonds to for-profit and not-for-profit developers of affordable housing projects.

In New York, the government has been successful at increasing affordable housing by offering tax-abatement programs that reduce the amount of property tax owed on properties under construction. There are also capital subsidies and policies such as inclusionary zoning, but the majority of affordable housing has been built by for-profit developers who take advantage of the tax policy.

There is no single way to deliver affordable housing, Beldsoe explained. Policies that mandate affordable housing units as part of a larger project exist, but they are only one piece of the puzzle.

In all of his successful project examples, public policies were supported by a toolkit of financial incentives and programs and a desire from both the public and private sectors to work collaboratively.

Here in the GTA, building more affordable housing will also take strong partnerships and a willingness to work together to find creative ways to make these projects feasible.

Affordable housing projects, or development projects that include affordable housing units, still need to make economic sense. Government partners can help by providing incentives such as fast-tracking approvals for projects that include affordable housing, offering tax breaks, and zoning for appropriate height and density to help make the business case for these projects.

Although many GTA municipalities are considering public policies that will mandate affordable units in a larger development project, our industry believes there are other proven methods to achieve the same result.

The wide range of ideas discussed at our event will culminate in a white paper, to be released later this year.

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What do you think is needed to get more affordable housing built in the GTA? Join the conversation on Twitter at @bildgta.

Bryan Tuckey is president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and is a land-use planner who has worked for municipal, regional and provincial governments. Find him at twitter.com/bildgta , facebook.com/bildgta and bildblogs.ca.

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